World Breaking News

Aabar set to invest in UniCredit’s share sale – sources

January 11, 2017

By Paola Arosio, Gianluca Semeraro and Stanley Carvalho MILAN/ABU DHABI, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi investor Aabar Investments is set to buy more shares in UniCredit in the Italian bank’s upcoming 13 billion-euro ($14 billion) share offer, Italy’s biggest ever cash call, three sources said on Wednesday. UniCredit, the country’s largest bank by assets, will launch the share offer next month to boost its capital base as it embarks on a restructuring plan under new CEO Jean Pierre Mustier. UniCredit has already found a group of banks ready to mop up any unsold shares, unlike rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena which last month had to be rescued by Italy’s government after failing to find buyers for its stock. A successful capital raising would be an important sign of market confidence in Italy’s battered banking system, weighed down by bad loans and low profitability. Mustier last month unveiled a plan to shift 17.7 billion euros in bad debts off UniCredit’s balance sheet, cut 14,000 jobs and close 944 branches by the end of 2019. One of the three sources familiar with the matter said Aabar had confidence in UniCredit’s strategy and would buy new shares to keep its stake unchanged. Given the cash call’s size, Aabar would need to invest around 650 million euros to maintain its 5 percent stake that makes it UniCredit’s second-biggest shareholder behind U.S. investor Capital Research and Management Company. Aabar and UniCredit declined to comment. A fourth source said on Wednesday the bank was…more detail

April 5 The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1000 GMT on Wednesday: ** British housebuilder Galliford Try pulled out of a 1.2 billion pound ($1.5 billion) attempt to buy rival Bovis after the two failed to agree on price, leaving Bovis to pursue a turnaround under a new chief executive. ** The battle for German drugmaker Stada is edging towards a close, with final offers from two private equity consortia expected on Friday evening, three people close to the matter said. ** Snapdeal's three biggest investors – Japan's SoftBank , Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners…... [read more]

The Dow Jones has dropped to below 20,000 US equities have notched up their worst day of the New Year - closing on a low last night. The dollar also slipped over concerns about the President’s trade policy, while the FTSE has also slid to a one-month low. The Dow Jones industrial average fell around 120 points after sliding more than 223.39 points, dropping below 20,000, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses. The S&P 500 dropped 0.6 per cent, with energy shedding 1.7 per cent while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.4 per cent. The Dow Jones industrial average fell…... [read more]

By Claire Milhench | LONDON LONDON Global investors raised their U.S. equity holdings to an 18-month high in January, betting fiscal stimulus from U.S. President Donald Trump will spur growth, but doubts are growing whether he can deliver as much as markets have priced in. A Reuters monthly asset allocation poll of 47 fund managers and chief investment officers in mainland Europe, the United States, Britain and Japan showed U.S. equity holdings at 41.8 percent of investors' global equity portfolios - the highest level since June 2015. But Tuesday's survey, carried out Jan. 16-30, also suggested markets may have overcooked…... [read more]

By Claire Milhench | London London European investors have raised holdings of U.S. equities to four-month highs while sharply cutting debt allocations, a Reuters poll showed, betting President Donald Trump will embark on a spending splurge, accelerating growth and inflation. The poll of 15 European asset managers was conducted from Jan. 16 to 30, straddling Trump's inauguration and the first week of his presidency, during which he promised to push through $1 trillion in tax cuts and public spending. U.S. stock markets have raced ahead on hopes that the resulting growth boost will lift company earnings, with the Dow Jones…... [read more]

By Richard Leong | NEW YORK NEW YORK A month ago, the dollar and stock markets were riding high as investors bet that the Trump administration, together with the Republican-controlled Congress, would usher in an era of lower taxes, more government spending and looser regulations. But as questions mount about how the new administration would carry out such an ambitious agenda and Trump himself sends mixed signals, investors are wondering whether Trump will end up actually being a game changer once he takes office as the U.S. president on Friday. In the weeks after the Nov. 8 election, Wall Street's…... [read more]

(Repeats Friday item) * Investors bullish even after 50 pct stock, bond gains * Many optimistic Trump will end sanctions on Russia * Oil prices forecast higher in 2017 * If inflation falls, consumer demand spending should rise By Sujata Rao and Andrey Ostroukh LONDON/MOSCOW, Dec 30 It's been a tough couple of years for Vladimir Miroshnikov, head of business development at Rolf, one of Russia's biggest car dealerships. But like many foreign investors, he's banking on an economic turnaround in 2017. Russian car sales, once growing around 50 percent a year, dropped off a cliff in 2015 after the…... [read more]

By Sujata Rao and Andrey Ostroukh | LONDON/MOSCOW LONDON/MOSCOW It's been a tough couple of years for Vladimir Miroshnikov, head of business development at Rolf, one of Russia's biggest car dealerships. But like many foreign investors, he's banking on an economic turnaround in 2017. Russian car sales, once growing around 50 percent a year, dropped off a cliff in 2015 after the rouble's 2014 collapse and fell a further 10 percent in 2016. Miroshnikov remains cautious, saying the next few months will be tough and seeing the possibility of "a recovery only in the second half of 2017". However, he…... [read more]

By Claire Milhench | LONDON LONDON Global investors' equity holdings rose to six-month highs in December on bets that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's promised fiscal splurge would spur higher growth and inflation, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday. Trump's plans to cut taxes and boost spending have sent Wall Street .DJI .IXIC to record highs in December as investors pile into everything from banks, to energy and materials and other infrastructure-related names. The last Reuters asset allocation poll of 2016 surveyed 45 fund managers and chief investment officers in mainland Europe, the United States, Britain and Japan. It showed…... [read more]

Global investors' equity holdings rose to six-month highs in December on bets that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's promised fiscal splurge would spur higher growth and inflation, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday. Trump's plans to cut taxes and boost spending have sent Wall Street to record highs in December as investors pile into everything from banks, to energy and materials and other infrastructure-related names. The last Reuters asset allocation poll of 2016 surveyed 45 fund managers and chief investment officers in mainland Europe, the United States, Britain and Japan. It showed equity holdings at 45.3 percent, the highest since…... [read more]